Tuesday, December 30, 2008

God wished to win men back from disobedience, not by using force to reduce him to slavery but by addressing to his free will a call to liberty.

CHESAPEAKE, Va. (Catholic Online) - On the sixth day of the Octave of Christmas we offer this excerpt from the Third Century Church Father St Hippolytus which is taken from the Office of Readings in the Liturgy of the Hours for this day:

The treatise of St Hippolytus On the Refutation of All Heresies: 'The word made flesh makes us divine'

"Our faith is not founded upon empty words; nor are we carried away by mere caprice or beguiled by specious arguments. On the contrary, we put our faith in words spoken by the power of God, spoken by the Word himself at God’s command.

God wished to win men back from disobedience, not by using force to reduce him to slavery but by addressing to his free will a call to liberty.

The Word spoke first of all through the prophets, but because the message was couched in such obscure language that it could be only dimly apprehended, in the last days the Father sent the Word in person, commanding him to show himself openly so that the world could see him and be saved. more...